


who's to say what's impossible

by coffeesuperhero



Series: Family Pond 'verse [4]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Babies, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-19
Updated: 2011-10-19
Packaged: 2017-10-26 16:16:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/285332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coffeesuperhero/pseuds/coffeesuperhero
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The baby is, of course, a surprise.</p>
            </blockquote>





	who's to say what's impossible

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimers** : This isn't for profit, just for fun. All characters & situations belong to Russell T. Davies, Stephen Moffat, BBC, and their various subsidiaries. Title from a song by Jack Johnson, which I also had nothing to do with.  
>  **A/N** : Spoilers for everything current, just in case. This is baby!fic, and the timeline of this universe is a bit wibbly wobbly, but hey, who wants to live sequentially?

The baby is, of course, a surprise.

"We should probably have some sort of plan," River says absently.

"Quite possibly," the Doctor says.

They're both still adjusting to the idea, and they waver between inexpressible joy and inexhaustible apprehension. Fortunately, they seem to be on the same emotional cycle: she doesn't quite know what she'd do if she were to be delighted while he was not.

He flies them to a deserted beach on a planet she hasn't heard of, and they sit on a rocky shelf with their toes in the cool water, a silence that is both easy and uncomfortable descending on the afternoon. His hand doesn't leave hers, and she knows it's love. He doesn't sit still for anyone else.

"I could just take her with me," he offers, staring out across the water. "I won't let her get into trouble. Well. Not too much, anyway. You're welcome to stay, obviously."

"How kind of you, my love," she drawls, and he squeezes her fingers, the closest she may ever come to an apology. "Wait a moment. Her? Have you been scanning me without my knowledge? _Again_?"

"No," he huffs, and when she gives him a look, he shrugs. "Well, maybe a little, but I didn't get that from a scan, I just _know_."

"You just know," she repeats, and he nods. "I don't. How do you?"

He gives her a little wave. "Hello," he says, managing somehow to look at once like the arrogant all-knowing savior of the universe and an average anxious father-to-be. "Sorry, I must have left my button that says, 'I'm a Time Lord, ask me how,' in the TARDIS."

"You don't mean to say..." she says, and he grins boyishly at her.

"Going to have to change my business cards. Last of the Time Lords. Not exactly true now, is it," he says, kicking his feet together.

"But that's not even possible," she breathes.

"No, but neither are you," he reminds her, shaking a finger in her direction. "Amy and Rory fixed that, with a little help from the TARDIS." He blushes, then, and she has to laugh. "I should have thought of that, earlier, but you were, well, you can be very distracting and persuasive, you know."

"Yes," she says, recalling immediately several occasions on which she has been both distracting and persuasive.

"Oh, the fun we'll have," he says, rubbing his hands together briefly in anticipation before reaching out for her hand again.

"She'll be all right, won't she?" River asks, knowing that for the moment, neither of them can say for certain. It's a big, ridiculous universe, as wide and wonderful as it is scary and dangerous, and that has always excited her for herself, but for her child, for their child, it worries her. But the Doctor smiles at her, and she can feel some of the fear recede like the waters on the shore in front of them.

"She'll be magnificent," he says.

\+ + + +

They go to drop off the Doctor's cot with Amy and Rory, careful to choose an uneventful day about two months before Aurora will arrive.

Amy looks her over and then looks at the cot, one finger tracing the symbols that spell the Doctor's name, and for a long moment, River is convinced that her mother already knows. She wonders if she's been here already. "You do keep your secrets, don't you?"

"I have to," River says, watching her mother very carefully. "Which secret would this be?"

"You said, at Demon's Run, that you'd seen that cot before. After we found out who you were, I thought maybe you remembered, even though you were so small, but lately, I've been wondering if you might have seen it again?"

"I can't imagine to what you might be referring, mother," River says, her tone carefully neutral, ignoring the reference to an event she hasn't lived yet. She can't imagine why she would have told Amy now. Perhaps she hasn't done. Perhaps her mother just knows her, the way the Doctor knows their daughter, and oh, it is quite difficult to keep the smile from her face at the thought of that.

"I just thought, you know, people get married, sometimes they have babies," her mother says.

"It's the Doctor," River reminds her, thinking of the crash of the Byzantium and Amy's incisive comments on the state of her relationship with the Doctor. She decides she'll leave her mother just a hint of a clue. Knowing Amy, she will argue with Rory about this for the next thirteen years, or at least, as much as one can argue with Rory, who is almost shamefully easy-going when he's not being a Roman Centurion. "Do you really think it could be that simple?"

"Yep," Amy replies, grinning at her.

She would gladly confess it all now, but the last time she saw them, long after this, they had no idea, and she's unwilling to make even the tiniest change in time. Hints are one thing, but if they didn't know later she can't tell them now. It's funny: a month ago and she'd have done it without a care in the world. One tiny little change. That's all it takes.

"You're far too young to be a grandmother, dear," River says instead. She won't tell her the truth, not now. She'll tell her in a moment, but it will be thirteen years before her mother will hear her say it. For now, she links her arm through Amy's and walks her slowly back into the house, saying, "Maybe when you're older."

"Funny old thing, _time travel_ ," Amy points out. Perhaps Rory and the Doctor are right when they say that her stubborn determination runs in the family. "You could turn up years from now, if you liked."

River allows herself one mysterious smile. "You're good. I'm not saying you're right. But you're very, very good."

They don't stay very long after that. Amy has business meetings early the next day, and Rory worriedly drops pointed hints about her needing to rest until finally he stands up and says, "Everyone out," frowning at a very drowsy Amy when she opens her mouth to protest.

They skip ahead. It's a bit jarring, popping forward thirteen years, wrinkles on her parents' faces where there had been none, moments before.

The Doctor gives her a nervous grin and then tosses an arm around Rory, saying, "Rory, Rory, Rory, I have never been for a ride in that really cool car of yours."

Rory looks at him in confusion. "You rode in it last week," he mutters, but the Doctor merely repeats that he's never been and frog-marches Rory out the door, the two of them off to collect Aurora from her friend Alfie's. River looks murderously at him when he glances over his shoulder at her, and he gives her a wide smile and a thumbs-up. She sighs.

"So," Amy says, once they've gone. "Glass of wine?"

"No, I'm fine with tea, thank you, dear," River replies, and Amy raises an eyebrow. She draws invisible words on the tabletop. "I don't suppose you still have that old cot we dropped off a few years back?"

"Aha!" Amy shouts, pointing at her daughter. "I knew it! Thirteen years ago was just a minute or two for you, wasn't it? Oh, I _am_ good."

"Yes, I believe I mentioned that at the time," River says, but she's smiling.

\+ + + +  
"You're going to be an aunt," River announces, leaning against the open door of her sister's room.

"I know," Aurora says simply. She's fussing with her hair in the mirror and doesn't even turn around.

River looks at her curiously, her eyes meeting her sister's in the mirror. "Have I already been here?"

"Last week, but you didn't mention this, so don't feel like you have to later. I, er," she says, shifting uncomfortably. "Maybe, _possibly_ read your diary."

"Aurora," River says, eyes wide.

"I know, I know," she says, turning around at last, gesturing wildly with her hairbrush. "It was wrong and I can never tell the Doctor any of it and I'm a bratty little sister, _I know_ , okay? But here I am and I'm boring, I'm totally, completely normal and dull and then there's _you_ , running all over everywhere all the time and mum and dad are so overprotective and I'm not _blaming_ you, but everybody else has had all these adventures and all I have is a pile of homework and sometimes I just wish none of you had ever told me anything about any of it! Maybe then I wouldn't feel so much like I'm not even related to the rest of you."

She slumps down onto the bed, and River comes to sit next to her, brushing some of her sister's long red hair out of her face. "You're my sister," River says, reaching for her hand. "Aurora Pond, you are as much a part of this fairytale as I am. You're the happily ever after."

Aurora rests her head on River's shoulder. "I guess this is why you didn't yell at me last time. I thought that was weird. This time travel stuff is all so confusing," Aurora sighs.

River smiles. "I know. I could tell you it gets less confusing, if you like."

"That's not even a _clever_ lie," Aurora says, rolling her eyes.

"No, it isn't," River agrees, patting her sister's knee.

"Soooo," Aurora says, staring at her feet, a slow smile spreading across her face. "If you're pregnant, you won't be needing that dress with the zippers for awhile, yeah?"

"Don't even think about it," River says, but her sister is already out the door and halfway down the stairs.

"Race you to the TARDIS wardrobe!" she yells. "Last one there has to wear a stupid hat!"

"All of those hats are cool!" the Doctor shouts after her, and River can hear her sister laughing all the way to the TARDIS.


End file.
